Indian Airports
My first experience with Indian airports was in Bangalore, where I landed from Singapore at a sobering 3 am. My flight to Bombay left at 9am, so I had a few hours to kill.
At first I felt like I was in some 1970 Mexican movie set, minus the Mexicans and add twice as many Indians. These Indians were yelling, acting wildly, and waving their arms franticly in the air. Welcome to India.
After navigating my way from Bangalore's International Airport (which is the same size as a large Tim Hortons) to the Domestic Airport across the street, I slept for 4 hours on the cold, hard dirty floor. I was scared I was going to miss my flight, so I stared at the flight leaving moniters intently. These moniters, by the way, were simply an old TV hooked up to some computer somewhere where MicroSoft Excell was hard at work. When a plane landed or took off, you would see the mouse come onto the screen and delete that row of cells, literally. High tech stuff they have going on in Bangalore.
Air India - one of the major airlines in India - I would not recommend. My seat had a few crumbs of Roti and long nasty looking dark hairs on it prior to flying to Delhi. I would recommend Spice Jet, as this discount airliner is cheap, and at least you will be prepared for the crumbs and random hairs.
My Dad doesn't like the Bombay airport. He was deported 30 minutes after landing and had to fly back to Franfurt. Note to all: you need a visa prior to entering India.
To enter any airport, you must first have your bags screened and your ticket/passport scrutinized by these old army guys that have mustaches that were impressive 50 years ago. After they deem you privaledge to enter the building, you must make sure you have a sticker on all your bags as this allows you to proceed to the next step. In total, there are about 14 steps, in no logical order, before you are finally allowed to baord the plane. I had to do and re-do and re-do again steps 2 to 6 because I never paid attention to make sure I got that all important sticker from step 1.
If you want to get an idea into the Indian psyche, watch them try to get off a landed airplane. I'll save the punchline for those that actually will get a chance to do so.
One final memory of these bizarre micro-cosms places of India. There is no such thing as line ups. Use your elbows as a weapon and your oversized backpack with cheap Indian goods as a shield.
At first I felt like I was in some 1970 Mexican movie set, minus the Mexicans and add twice as many Indians. These Indians were yelling, acting wildly, and waving their arms franticly in the air. Welcome to India.
After navigating my way from Bangalore's International Airport (which is the same size as a large Tim Hortons) to the Domestic Airport across the street, I slept for 4 hours on the cold, hard dirty floor. I was scared I was going to miss my flight, so I stared at the flight leaving moniters intently. These moniters, by the way, were simply an old TV hooked up to some computer somewhere where MicroSoft Excell was hard at work. When a plane landed or took off, you would see the mouse come onto the screen and delete that row of cells, literally. High tech stuff they have going on in Bangalore.
Air India - one of the major airlines in India - I would not recommend. My seat had a few crumbs of Roti and long nasty looking dark hairs on it prior to flying to Delhi. I would recommend Spice Jet, as this discount airliner is cheap, and at least you will be prepared for the crumbs and random hairs.
My Dad doesn't like the Bombay airport. He was deported 30 minutes after landing and had to fly back to Franfurt. Note to all: you need a visa prior to entering India.
To enter any airport, you must first have your bags screened and your ticket/passport scrutinized by these old army guys that have mustaches that were impressive 50 years ago. After they deem you privaledge to enter the building, you must make sure you have a sticker on all your bags as this allows you to proceed to the next step. In total, there are about 14 steps, in no logical order, before you are finally allowed to baord the plane. I had to do and re-do and re-do again steps 2 to 6 because I never paid attention to make sure I got that all important sticker from step 1.
If you want to get an idea into the Indian psyche, watch them try to get off a landed airplane. I'll save the punchline for those that actually will get a chance to do so.
One final memory of these bizarre micro-cosms places of India. There is no such thing as line ups. Use your elbows as a weapon and your oversized backpack with cheap Indian goods as a shield.
posted by Matt Switzer at 11:21 PM
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People should read this.
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